Paper ID
1478
Paper Type
short
Description
In recent years, patients start to develop electronic weak ties in online healthcare platforms, through which beneficial outcomes such as social support entail. In this study, we examine how electronic weak ties dynamically affect two major types of social support: informational support and emotional support. Specifically, we investigated how much social capital patients need to accumulate before they start to benefit from electronic weak ties, and employed Cox Proportional Hazards models with varying time spells to examine the influence of weak ties on of social support over time. Our preliminary analysis shows that individuals’ visibility and endorsement are two forms of weak ties that positively affect their chances of acquiring social support, and these effects fluctuate during the first several months. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to investigate the influence of electronic weak ties in online health platforms from a dynamic perspective.
Recommended Citation
Jiang, Shan; Liu, Xuan; Lin, Shan; and Cheng, Yan, "When Do Patients Start Benefiting From Electronic Weak Ties? Empirical Examination of Online Social Capital Accumulation" (2019). ICIS 2019 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/is_health/is_health/2
When Do Patients Start Benefiting From Electronic Weak Ties? Empirical Examination of Online Social Capital Accumulation
In recent years, patients start to develop electronic weak ties in online healthcare platforms, through which beneficial outcomes such as social support entail. In this study, we examine how electronic weak ties dynamically affect two major types of social support: informational support and emotional support. Specifically, we investigated how much social capital patients need to accumulate before they start to benefit from electronic weak ties, and employed Cox Proportional Hazards models with varying time spells to examine the influence of weak ties on of social support over time. Our preliminary analysis shows that individuals’ visibility and endorsement are two forms of weak ties that positively affect their chances of acquiring social support, and these effects fluctuate during the first several months. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to investigate the influence of electronic weak ties in online health platforms from a dynamic perspective.